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Good News: Joey the opossum might have slept through class but was still a good teacher

Sandy.Strickland@jacksonville.com Donna Elkins gives pet opossum Joey a kiss during Joey's birthday party in her Woodland Acres Elementary School classroom in 2008.

Donna Elkins had wanted to tell Joey’s story since the day she found him curled into a tiny ball in her backyard. Her neighbor’s dogs killed his mother and siblings.

“His mother made it over the fence and dropped Joey in my yard before she went off and died,” the retired science teacher said. “I saw him on the ground and thought he was a mole that my cats had gotten hold of. I touched him, he opened his eyes, looked at me and I looked at him. It was love at first sight.”

So began a unique story of bonding with a wildlife critter who became an educational resource and the unofficial mascot of Woodland Acres Elementary School. He even celebrated his birthday in her fifth-grade classroom, complete with yellow cake and white frosting.

Now Elkins has written a short children’s book called “Joey: The Opossum That Went to School,” published by OnLineBinding.com. It took her five years to find the right illustrator, Mary Ann Miller, who teaches travel sketching, has painted in Europe and retired as an art teacher from Pine Forest School of the Arts.

At first, Elkins thought she would be able to release Joey into the wild, but the dogs had broken his jaw. The first part of her book is nonfiction, but she adds a fictional twist: Joey goes to a wildlife center to learn how to be a possum, makes all A’s and is released.

“Joey touched so many lives and changed so many people’s attitudes toward wildlife,” Elkins said.

Because he had to be fed every few hours, she took him to school with her. (She had a state license to do so.) When the nocturnal critter started sleeping all day, she left him at home with food and brought him in periodically so students from different grade levels could visit him. She talked to them about opossums, and they learned how Joey had adapted to life outside the wild.

Her experience with Joey led Elkins to volunteer with the Wildlife Rescue Coalition of Northeast Florida. She retired from teaching in 2012 after 35 years, 28 of them at Woodland Acres. Joey died in 2009, a month shy of age 3. Elkins, meanwhile, has been a foster mother to baby opossums and recently got a litter of eight to take to schools. She’s been visiting classrooms to read her book and talk about opossums for K-3 wildlife units.

For information on her book, go to joeytheopossum.com. A portion of the proceeds goes to the wildlife center. For classroom visits, email her at elkinsdh@aol.com.

■ While it didn’t resemble the Depression-era marathons, more than 300 students at the University of North Florida were on their feet for 17 hours and 6 minutes last weekend to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. The annual dance marathon raised a record breaking $42,802. Proceeds go to pediatric programs at Wolfson Children’s Hospital and UF Health Jacksonville.

■ Jaguars kicker Josh Scobee and his wife, Melissa, visited Wolfson Children’s Hospital Wednesday to present a check for $11,570 as part of his Kicks for Kids program for 2013. Scobee donates funds to Wolfson for every field goal he kicks throughout the season. This year, the Jaguars Foundation matched the amount. The Scobees visit Wolfson throughout the year.

■ Sawyer Gas employees spent a recent Saturday painting, cleaning and repairing the home of an elderly Jacksonville woman. The volunteers worked with representatives from Operation New Hope, a nonprofit specializing in community development in Springfield and East Jacksonville. Sawyer Gas also donated $1,000.

■ For the first time, dance students from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts performed at the National Dance Festival in Miami. They did the closing numbers on both nights of the 25th annual festival, one of the highest honors for the event, a news release said.

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